Loleta melee leaves party-goers with stab wounds; two arrested after large party devolves into 30-person fight

Officials on Monday were continuing their investigation into a raucous Loleta party that devolved into a melee involving more than 30 people Sunday morning, resulting in at least five stabbings, an injured Humboldt County sheriff's deputy and a pair of arrests.

The sheriff's office was called to a house on the 500 block of Cannibal Island Road at about 3 a.m. Sunday and arrived to find numerous stabbing victims on the ground screaming for help and several fights in progress, according to a press release.

"It was a chaotic mess," said Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Lt. Steve Knight. "It was very chaotic, with victims all over."

Deputies learned that at least 30 of the more than 100 people at the party had been involved with the fight, which led to many smaller fights breaking out.

According to the release, two or three people pulled knives during the fight and "began stabbing people indiscriminately."

Deputies arrested Kurtis Shane Day, 20, of Rio Dell, and Aaron Storm Eubanks, 19, of Fortuna, at the scene on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, according to the release. Eubanks was also arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The sheriff's office is still investigating and believes additional suspects may be at large.

A deputy was injured during the incident, receiving a five-inch laceration on his arm when he tackled Eubanks, who reportedly tried to flee the scene. Knight said it's unclear how the deputy was injured, as he noticed the cut only when putting Eubanks into a patrol car. Knight said the deputy suffered a "pretty deep cut."

The deputy and five stabbing victims were all treated and released at a local hospital. The sheriff's office believes there were at least two additional stabbing victims at the party, but those victims have not come forward.

Richie Roberts -- who described himself as a friend of both Day and Eubanks and a party guest -- said the get-together was planned for months but was initially slated to be held somewhere else. When a problem arose with that location, Roberts said, word was sent out on Facebook that the party had been canceled. Then, he said, someone in Loleta volunteered their home and word was again spread through the social networking site.

The resulting party was great, Roberts said, adding that there were well more than 100 people there.

"It was a really chill party," he said. "Everyone was having a good time."

The sheriff's office was first called to the scene at about 12:30 a.m. for a noise complaint. According to the release, the deputies left after the party-goers were determined to be adults and agreed to keep it down.

Roberts said the night was winding down at about 2:30 a.m. -- with the DJ shutting down the music -- when a scuffle broke out in the home's kitchen, where a man from Southern Humboldt got angry that a guy from Fortuna was talking to his girlfriend and grabbed him by the throat.

A few minutes later, Roberts said, things escalated quickly and may have had a geographical component.

Roberts said he decided it was time to leave just as the fights were breaking out, but said he didn't see any knives pulled before he left. In fact, Roberts said he didn't even learn of the stabbings until he woke up later on Sunday to find he had around 20 missed calls and a host of messages waiting on his cell phone.

Day's mother, Amber Bowlds, said her son was cut in the melee, receiving a pair of lacerations -- one to the back of his arm and another to the back of his head. She said her son said he has no idea how the fight broke out and told her he was assaulted while coming to the aid of a girl with a deep stab wound to her leg.

Knight confirmed that Day had an injury to his head but declined to offer specifics.

"He obviously didn't knife himself," Bowlds said.

Knight said investigators spent most of Sunday and Monday processing evidence and trying to track down witnesses with the hopes of reconstructing exactly what happened early Sunday morning.

"We're trying to find out exactly what happened," he said. "The picture is very fluid. We're still piecing together this very large puzzle."

Knight said investigators recovered a weapon from the scene Monday, but he said it's unclear if it was used in the fight. Ultimately, he said, investigators are going to need help from witnesses to reconstruct the melee.

"We really want the public to contact us on this one," he said, urging anyone with information about the incident to call Detective Diana Freese at 268-3639 or leave a message at the Crime Tip Line at 268-2539.